leading off tonight, l.a. story. what made holy woold's a-list come out for dinner at george clooney's house last night and leave $1500 behind for president obama? one reason, hollywood is happy with a president who won't compromise his principles. by this i mean three key factions, the left, the obama stalwarts and hilary. they're all vying for the president. joe biden felt he needed to apologize to obama for getting out in front with his gay comments last sunday. sure, they were angry that the vice president stole the president's thunder, but why are they going public with the rancor? why splash it across all the major newspapers today? who wins there? that's what i want to know. also, how seriously should we take the story of mitt romney's high school antipathy? should something be forgotten from high school because mitt

romney says he's forgotten? wisconsin's governor scott walker has always insisted he's not anti-union, but now a new individual yvideotape has emerg walker tells a supporter he plans to use a strategy and turn wisconsin into a right to work state. in the recall election, he meets tom barrett tonight. we begin with president obama's big hollywood hall last night. rob reiner activist, actor and director. and msnbc political analyst. rob, thanks for coming on "hardball" tonight after that last night. you were there, of course. you're a very supportive

democrat. what can you tell us about the feeling, the movement of the evening? >> it was a great feeling in the room. as you said, $15 million were raised, but what i think is significant about that is that about two-thirds of that money came from small donors. so the majority of it didn't come from the people in the room. there were -- they raffled off a ticket to come to the dinner, and the people who won were sitting at our table from florida, and so this to me was a significant thing. also the great thing was there were about 15 tables, and president obama moved from one table to the next, so we got a chance to talk to everybody, and i think it was a great evening. >> let me ask you about the cultural feeling, because i know that tends to unite the democratic party these days, at least in the theatrical world and a lot of the media world, i must say. this sense that he's right to be fighting for rights. in this sense having made that statement this week. what do you think that did to the evening? >> it definitely energized

everyone there. we were in a room full of avid supporters to begin with, but certainly him making that -- he said -- he was very funny at the beginning, he said, i made some news this week, you know. he kind of made a joke out of it, but it was really a bold move on his part. it was the right thing to do, we know he had been evolving on this issue, and he came to the right place. we always, you know, as a democracy, we kind of, in fits and starts, move toward doing the right thing. there was a time women couldn't vote, blacks couldn't marry whites, blacks couldn't vote, and we always seem to do the right thing and get it right. i think it's wonderful that a sitting president would be able to support the only group, the only minority group in america that is not considered equal under the law. and this is a big step forward to making sure that that all is taken away. >> i think the old line is america only does the right thing after it's tried

everything else. anyway, let's take a look at the president's not so veiled reference this week to the right of gay marriage. quote, obviously yesterday we made some news. but the truth is it was a logical extension of what america is supposed to be. it grew directly out of the difference in visions. are we a country that includes everybody and gives everybody a shot and treats everybody fairly? and is that going to make us stronger? are we welcoming to immigrants? are we welcome to people who aren't like us? does that make us stronger? i believe it does, so that's what's at stake. how do you put this in context when they stood to the left and talked about freedom and rights issues. certainly when it comes to freedom of expression in the movies, but here you have real unity, it looks like, at the front. the people, i guess, on the left, the middle of the road democrats, the hillary people,

the stalwart obama people, they all seem to be rallying now for the president. >> on that front, think about the obama coalition in terms of money back in 2008. all of those elements were in place then. he raised a ton of money in hollywood. he raised a ton of money from small donors. in the end he raised a lot of money from former hillary supporters who eventually came around despite some reluctance. they ended up giving a lot of money in the fall of 2008. the one element of his fundraising coalition that's absent this year, and it's a big problem both in terms of the campaign and in terms of the democratic superpac is wall street where president obama raised a lot of money in 2008, and that well has gone dry for him, so he's looking for new sources of money. i don't think necessarily this decision was calculated to have that effect, but it may have that effect. he's replaced a lot of wall street money with gay donors. they are now -- i believe the number is 1 and 6 of his

bundlers are from the gay community. this decision not calculated necessarily just from financial profit or dividends for him, but it's going to pay it for him, and he does need that money because there's no one on either side who doesn't think he's the first incumbent president that will get outspent in this election. >> so he will get outspent, that's your summation right now? >> i think he will get outspent. >> he's given the maximum to the president he's allowed to donate. quote, he came out in support of marriage equality. he didn't have to do it, but he did it. and it's what the country needs. so i said, let's max out. when they invest nd a republican candidate, they invested in their businesses. they want more of a tax break,

and in a perverted way, they should get a tax write-off. they're doing it for the money. you guys are doing it for cultural reasons because you share values with the president. maybe especially gay people are concerned, and they do get a value of interest out of this in terms of rights, but this is interesting. you guys on the coast out there agree with the president. people on wall street, the business world, texas, around there, they make money because they get money off republican politics. >> it's interesting because hollywood is the only donor base, as you call it, that has no quid pro quo. we don't support a candidate because he might be able to do something for us. when you see the coke brothers showing what will be 20 to hundreds of millions of dollars into a -- you know, a pac, they're looking for a payback. they want -- and they'll get it,

too. if their man gets in the white house, they will get it with -- you know -- >> oil money? >> regulations that are reduced to allow them to pollute and do all the things they want to do. we're the only group of donors that doesn't ask for something in return. we support somebody because, like you said, they share our values, whether it comes to education, health care, the environment, the economy, social issues, they're in line with how we feel about things, and we look at the totality of a candidate, not just at a very narrow, specific, financial interest. >> what do you make of romney's absolute straight arrow opposition 180 to anything for gay people? not only opposition to marriage which we still argue about in this country, but total opposition to any movement whatsoever? he says, i'm never going to evolve. nothing for civil unions, no rights out there, nothing for equality. you're a political guy, do you think he's just saying, maybe i

can pick off north carolina here. maybe i can get back to gay men in ohio, in iowa? doesn't he say i'm not giving up anything, even crumbs. what's he up to? >> i don't think obama came out in favor of same-sex unions or marriages in order to build his donor base up, but the end result is that it will do that. i think on the same token, i don't think romney is saying that because, up, it's going to energize his base. the fact of the matter is it does energize his base. there are probably many christian conservatives who might not have supported romney who might do it if they're single issue voters. i think this is a deeply held view by romney, and i don't think we should diminish those feelings that he has.

he's entitled to his opinion. i believe he's wrong. my good friend and colleague chad griffin, was on. and i think that's right. i hope obama wins, and i don't think there will be another president after obama that will go backwards. >> chad griffin, human rights campaign. i was there when he was made president. is rob right on all those fronts, that this will energize both sides and this will get the concerns who think it's palenta. >> i think rob is being a little bit charitable to mitt romney. he did, in 1994, when he ran in

the ted kennedy race, said he would be better for gay rights than ted kennedy was. that may have been a plausible thing to write considering ted kennedy, but he has things like trying to drive his base in this election, but mitt romney has taken a seat in many parts of this election to gain an appeal seat. yes, it's definitely the fact that the conservative right has reacted more strongly to this than mitt romney has in the course of the last several days. does romney see it in his interest to exploit that or not? i think the romney campaign believes that any day not spent talking about the economy is a wasted day politically. i think they ought to leave this alone because they think the economy is a winning issue.

so they may not try to explore this and try not to drive it away from this campaign like so many previous campaigns have been. >> i don't believe romney will try to exploit it, but there will be surrogates out there in a very targeted way. as you know, carl rove was very good, and in key states like florida and ohio, all those things that will target specific voting blocks for a turnout. so it may not be right there in the forefront of a campaign, but under the radar, there will be a lot of stocking of those fires. >> i don't like having rob reiner on this show because he knows more than most others. good luck with the latest film.

great filmmaker. i still love "a few good men." i still love "princess bride," as you know. this weekend on the chris matthews show, andrew sullivan's emotional reaction. see the president's new stance on gay marriage. >> to tell you the truth, i didn't realize how important it would be until it happened. beforehand, i was kind of steeled. i was like, i don't care, he's going to disappoint us again, and then i sat down and watched our president tell me that i am his equal. >> wow, it's just as emotional as that, as you see. more to see on the chris matthews show. why is the white house talking trash about joe bidden so openly with the press? i know why they're mad. he jumped the gun. how math and science kind of makes the world work.

in high school, i had a physics teacher by the name of mr. davies. he made physics more than theoretical, he made it real for me. we built a guitar, we did things with electronics and mother boards. that's where the interest in engineering came from. so now, as an engineer, i have a career that speaks to that passion. thank you, mr. davies. not in this economy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy, the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader.

big news from north carolina. a federal judge refused today to toss out charges against former u.s. senator john edwards. the edwards defense team had moved to dismiss the case, but the judge decided there is enough evidence for the case to continue. that means the defense will begin presenting its case monday. what a story this is. the prosecution rested its case yesterday. we'll be right back. king crab. rhubarb pie. lettuce shower. made by bees. toucan sam. that's not cheese. grass fed. curry. gingersnaps. soup can tower. 5% cash back. right now, get 5% cash back at grocery stores. it pays to discover. of how a shipping giant can befriend a forest may seem like the stuff of fairy tales. but if you take away the faces on the trees... take away the pixie dust. take away the singing animals, and the storybook narrator... [ man ] you're left with more electric trucks. more recycled shipping materials... and a growing number of lower emissions planes... which still makes for a pretty enchanted tale. ♪ la la la [ man ] whoops, forgot one... [ male announcer ] sustainable solutions.

fedex. solutions that matter. ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. new v8 v-fusion plus energy. morning, boys. so, i'm working on a cistern intake valve, and the guy hands me a locknut wrench. no way! i'm like, what is this, a drainpipe slipknot? wherever your business takes you,

nobody keeps you on the road like progressive commercial auto. [ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. now, that's progressive. call or click today. back to "hardball." this week there have been a lot of anonymous sources talking about their irritation of vice president biden. it all started on "meet the press" last weekend when they said he got ahead of the president on gay marriage. the reporters said they were enraged by the episode and they reminded reporters that biden had counselled the president to stay mum himself on gay marriage for fear of alien ating voters. why are they going public? what is going on behind the scenes at the white house?

ma i'm going to start with the "new york times." i'm not a student of the press, but i know how to read a story. source after source after source, high-level top campaign official, close to the president. the staff, the white house and the vice president's office all talking openly about the president's concern, anger. the white house staff is angry at the vice president. i know you can't give away all your sources, but why is everybody talking? >> i'm not going to ask them to stop, but -- >> i know, it's your job. >> this is a very exacting step. they do things on a schedule. david pluff, they all have a very strict plan and this week was to talk about the campaign rollout and a $25 million ad buy

to go over their list. here we are on day four talking about gay marriage. it's got them tied in knots. >> did they pull back the money when they knew it wasn't going to do any good? >> not that i know of. >> so they waste aydeloide -- wa lot of money on ad campaigns? >> i don't know if it was wasted. >> is the operation of the vice president to act within the confines of the president. his role is to support the president. it's an operative role but not really a creative role. >> theoretically. that's the way they look at it, that's the way the white house looks at it. he's used to being his own voice. >> he's been a senator for 30 years. >> he might run for president again. he's very interested in making his voice be heard because that's how he's conditioned. there will be a natural tension there as there often is in these situations. >> a guy who is spontaneous and

just speaks his mind, and all of a sudden, he has to speak the talking points. >> let me go to glen to check on that. his job is to perform, it's not to create. >> i'm still stuck on leibovich being celebrated, but we'll let that go. no, i think the issue here is the white house has outsourced a lot of the president's job to joe biden. biden is the guy they sent to the midwest, he does a lot of the retail politicking that another president, one with a more rounded set of skills, might do, and the other thing about it is, he is a guy who they like to have as comic relief and they have used before to float stuff. i don't think it was in this case. this is the problem. when you let the dog off the leash, sometimes the dog bites or messes things up. >> but why the anger? i can see you're upset with someone who is supposed to serve a purpose and found another way to do it. the irritation is going to

outrage. i read in your covers, outrage, irritation, activity. it's not just george blew it, it's george blew it. he's a bad operative. you first, glen, and then back to mark. >> because most of the time when biden does this stuff, it doesn't threaten the president's hand directly. plough and those guys talk about the long game, but as mark can tell you, they're very reactive, especially when they see something in the "new york times" and the "washington post." the other thing i want to say, chris, is one of the givens here is they've been saying that they would have done this before the convention. that was not what i was hearing in the weeks leading up to this. i had heard -- >> let me check mark on that because that's a key point. was the president intending, sometime before now and the conventions, to support marriage equality? you say, glenn, they weren't set on that course yet. >> i had heard -- now, the thing

the white house folks say is biden made a change and that changed the political calculation. so i'm not accusing anybody of being disingenuous. but the thought was it would have been smart to do it six months ago -- >> did biden goose him into action or simply push him into action? did he create the idea of doing this and force the president's hand or simply move the president ahead of schedule? >> i think there was a very lively debate internally about this, and i think the sense was or the argument was, by the political folks who thought they shouldn't do this right away, was that the moment was lost and we'll have to do this after the election. >> i'm not getting an answer from you, glenn. before anything happened on "meet the press," before anyone was ever asked the question, did he plan to come out about it or no? >> i don't know. >> let me ask you about the vice

president. any doubt he'll be on the ticket? >> no. >> any doubt, glenn, he'll be on the ticket? >> no, i don't think so. >> i go back to my point, then. why publicly publish them if he's going to be back on the team. >> well, the ball has been -- biden's been pretty good for the last few years, and i think what really ticked people off was the timing. i think clearly in the back of people's minds is 2016 and is biden maybe doing a little flutter eye to the left. >> here's my question because i really like biden. biden spends 99% of his time, if not 100%, thinking about one thing: how do i help my

friend -- my friend -- barack obama. when you're with him, that's all there is. this is his life. then he makes a mistake showing his attitude. >> did they say this as incompitence or independence? >> these guys like to control every aspect of the staging of things, and i don't think there was a reason for this, they just got hungry. >>. >> why publicly thrash the guy? . i think one of the interesting things that will be seen going forward and how will the obama

team try to control biden. he is inside the press guy. i think you'll see more controls on biden from inside the white house to inside chicago. >> he's new, he's brand new. >> you know why i like him? at the age of 29, he ran for the united states senate against a guy who was unbeatable, and all these because people love his honesty. they love that spontaneity, and that's rare in politics to be who you are. >> that's why he does this. >> yeah, i think obama shows he

can be regular to have a friend like biden when he can get e. biden pulls back in a fight against john lewis. this is hardball, the place for politics. ♪ you are my sunshine, my only sunshine ♪

♪ you make me happy when skies are gray ♪ [ female announcer ] you know exactly what it takes to make them feel better. ♪ you make me happy [ female announcer ] that's why you choose children's tylenol. the same brand your mom trusted for you when you were young. ♪ how much i love you [ humming ] [ female announcer ] children's tylenol, the #1 brand of pain and fever relief recommended by pediatricians and used by moms decade after decade. [ humming ]

uh, nope. just, uh, checking out my ad. nice. but, y'know, with every door direct mail from the postal service, you'll find the customers that matter most: the ones in your neighborhood. print it yourself or find a local partner. and postage is under 15 cents. i wish i would have known that cause i really don't think i chose the best location. it's not so bad... i mean you got a deal... right? [ bird cries ] go online to reach every home, every address, every time with every door direct mail. back to "hardball." we usually reserve this part of the show to highlight some of the lighter moments in politics, but today calls for something different. the reporter i.d. laws took front and center this week, these laws seeing as a way to

cut into minority voting. they began the day paul brown proposed an amendment that would cut off all funding that would require states and counties to get federal approval before changing their election laws. enter an icon of the civil rights movement, john lewis, who was brutally beaten as a freedom marcher back in the '60s. >> it is hard and difficult and almost unbelievable that any member, but especially a member from the state of georgia, would come and offer such an amendment. there's a long history in our country, especially in the 11 states of the confederacy, from virginia to texas, of discrimination based on race, on color. before the voting rights act of 1965, it was almost impossible for many people in the state of georgia, in alabama, in virginia, in texas to register

to vote, to participate in the democratic process. it's shameful that you would come here tonight and say to the department of justice that you must not use one penny, one cent, one dime, one dollar to carry out the mandate of section 5 of the voting rights act. we should be opened up to the political process and let all our citizens come in and participate. people are dying for the right to vote, friends of mine, colleagues of mine speak out against this amendment. >> minutes later, congressman brown was back with his response. >> i apologize to my dear friend from georgia if he's gotten angry with this amendment. it was never my intent to do so. i certainly wasn't meaning to try to hurt anybody's feelings. i ask consent to withdraw my amendment. >> without an objection, so

ordered. >> what a condescending way to talk to lewis. i apologize if he got angry. it's these kind of laws that prevent people from the simple right to vote. mitt romney's behavior back in high school. is it something that should be forgotten as he said he's f forgotten it, or is this really something about a man we don't know much about? in 25th place. let's raise academic standards across the nation. let's get back to the head of the class. let's solve this. not in my house. with maxwell house,

we are perfectly capable of brewing our own coffee. am i right little man? he knows what i'm sayin'. [ male announcer ] maxwell house gourmet roast. always good to the last drop. i'm michael bazinet, president of creative digital imaging of bangor, maine. we have customers all over the united states.

we rely on the postal service for everything that we do. the eastern maine processing facility is vital to our operation and our success. if we lose this processing facility we could lose clientele because of increased mailing times. we would have to consider layoffs as a result of that. closure of this plant will affect all of us. ♪

i'm tyler matheson with your cnbc market wrap. the dow slips to 34, the s&p and nasdaq is down 4. jp morgan has a $2 billion trading loss since shares led five brokerages to cut their price targets on that blue chip

firm. meanwhile, they rise to their level after a cnbc business worldwide. happy mother's day, everybody. now back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." ask yourself this. would you be judged yourself with how you acted in high school? would you like that? yesterday the press reported an incident from mitt romney's years involving a student named john lauber. he and his friends came to lauber, pinned him to the ground. as lauber's eyes screamed for help, romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of

scissors. why does that story matter? because it found romney before his own political campaign does. i have very strong opinions about this topic. i'm saving them for the end of this show. what is your opinion? when you read this article on the front page of the times. >> i have two opinions on it. the first is, wow, it's 50 years ago. high school boys in the 1960s, okay, we understand it. the other opinion i have is, again, this is another time where i think the campaign fl flubbed the opportunity to help get him in front of the story and to define this story in context so that people aren't taking current attitudes about bullying and how they see, you know, young gay men being treated and juxtaposing them to the 1960s. >> what's the second part? how did they handle it? >> how they handled it was poorly. >> denying it, saying he can't remember?

>> a lot of people just kind of hit that credulity button and said, not so much. you can't come up with something so stark that you were the leader on and say that you have no recollection. >> that's why i like having you on this show. i think that's a pretty good statement of what happened. the romney campaign responded saying he had no recollection of the episode. then romney had it described in dedale and questioned him on it. let's hear his response. >> do you remember this? >> you know, i don't remember that incident. i'll tell you, i certainly don't believe that i or i can't speak for other people, of course, thought the fellow was homosexual. that was the furthest thing from my mind back in the 1960s. but as for pranks back then, i

don't remember them all, but again, high school days, and i did stupid things, i'm afraid i got to say sorry for it. >> the big guys got together led by romney looking for the kid. they chased him, found him on campus, pinned him to the ground when he's crying and screaming for help. romney somehow got a pair of scissors and started cutting the kid's hair off. the kid is muted, quiet, tamed. joan walsh, this is the novel. this is the stuff you read about in a separate piece by john knowles. this is the stuff we all remember in school, the cruelty of school, how cruel it can be. your thoughts? >> well, i really appreciate michael's candor about the way the campaign handled it, but i think it goes slightly deeper than that, chris, because when you listen to mitt chuckle, he dhubl chuckles after he hears -- >> four times. >> exactly, he chuckles after he hears the description of what

happened. a, i find it impossible to believe he doesn't remember. but b, if i gave him the benefit of the doubt and said maybe it slipped his mind, to hear it and to chuckle? i mean, there is really a kind of empathy deficit there where if someone said to me, you did this and i heard it, i wouldn't laugh. i would be horrified and i would say, i don't remember that, but if i did, that was a terrible thing to do. and it's not that -- we don't want to judge mitt romney by our standards of today. we don't want to go back 50 years and impose those standards. >> how is our standard different from then? >> i think we are more cognizant of the damage that bullying does, and particularly anti-gay bullying. so i'm not going to give him a pass for it, but i kind of agree with michael. you want to give a younger person compassion. but what you can judge by the standards of today is his response, and since we live in a culture where we have the "it gets better" videos where

prominent people are telling young, gay teenagers, it gets better, and hang in there, to have him respond this way is really a missed opportunity for empathy. >> we're looking for who this guy is. most people have never met mitt romney personally, and i think we connected the dots. one dot is this story, which i think is probably true, but he said he forgot it. another one was this week where he had a staff member run off the campaign because he was gay and romney never said, stay, i need you. so maybe the dots are getting connected on issues like this. >> i don't know all that goes into that second dot with grinnell, but if you step back and look at it, here's someone with the kind of bona fides in foreign policy are accepted because the people he worked for have been around, and number two, the establishment in this town find him as very credible hire and were very disappointed

in his leaving. so there was something there where the campaign, again, got in front of him. he is sort of blocked and tackled out of position. >> what about the candidate? couldn't romney say "stay"? >> exactly. if you hired him and brought him in because he's good at what he does in communicating your foreign policy, then yeah, i think you keep him. his sexuality has no bearing on his ability to talk about it. >> joe klein said this week the example where mitt romney stands up to anything, the sort of direction it's moving. he never says, stop, i disagree with that. he never says, i disagree with what's going on. he just sort of goes along with the foreign policy, the tax policy. he never says, wait a minute, i'm mitt romney, i'm different than you, let me explain. >> and i'm going to take my lumps and stand up for something unpopular but this is what i believe. part of what michael was saying, it was as though he wanted to

have it both ways. he wanted to be a figure of tolerance where he said we have this guy, he's a hawk, he's very credible, we don't care if he's gay. he wanted credit to do it, and he it did it briefly, but then he didn't have the courage of his convictions and he wasn't able to dig in his heels and say, look, you guys, i hired him and i want him to stay. >> governor romney could still be here this weekend. he could have said, he's staying because he's a good guy. i don't care what his orientation is. what beautiful weather we have back here. i don't know what it's like on the coast, but it's beautiful here. larry king says we're having robb rosh hoshanoh weather but the other way. we're going to talk to walker's opponent, tom barry.

this is "hardball," the place for politics. what makes a sleep number store different? you walk into a conventional mattress store, it's really not about you. they say, "well, if you wanted a firm bed you can lie on one of those. if you want a soft bed you can lie on one of those." we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. welcome to the sleep number memorial day sale. where you can celebrate our 25-year commitment to a single mission: better sleep for both of you. never tried this before. this is your body there. you can see a little more pressure in the hips. take it up one notch. oh gosh, yes. when you're playing around with that remote, you get

that moment where you go, "oh yeah" oh, yeah! ... and it's perfect. they had no idea that when they came to a sleep number store, we were going to diagnose their problems and help them sleep better. and right now, you can save 40% on our innovative sleep number silver edition bed-for a limited time. once you experience it, there's no going back. wow. hurry in to the sleep number memorial day sale between now and june 3rd. only at the sleep number store, where queen mattresses start at just $699. breaking news out of chicago. a jury has convicted a man in the murder of three of oscar winner jennifer hudson's family members. balan balfour was the estranged husband of hudson's sister. balfour faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] the next generation of investing technology

is now within your grasp with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. e-trade 360 is the world's first investing homepage that shows you where all your investments are and what they're doing with free streaming quotes, news, analysis and even your trade ticket. everything exactly the way you want it, all on one page. transform your investing with the all-new e-trade 360 investing dashboard. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions,

to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers. ♪ managing my diabetes ibetween takingife, to hinsulin and testing do moremy blood sugar. is this part of your life? freestyle lite test strips? they need just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. wow! and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so testing is easy. and you can save on these strips monthly simply by joining the freestyle promise program. so saving is easy too. yep, just call or click and join for free. test easy. that's good morning, veggie style. hmmm. for half the calories plus veggie nutrition. could've had a v8.

welcome back to "hardball." scott walker faces one of the weakest recall elections ever. walker says he wasn't out to hu unions, just fix the budget, but a new video of walker talking to a wealthy donor makes you doubt his good will here toward unions. >> any chance we'll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions and become a right to work? what can we do to help you? >> we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. the first step is we're going to deal with collective bargaining

for all republican employees, use divide and conquer. >> he's going to break the unions by separating the public sector employee unions from private sector unions. what do we got here? we've got hard evidence, i would say. >> from the very beginning this was never about budgets, this was never about deficit, this was never about good management, this was an effort to simply break the unions in wisconsin, which is also coordinated with the same kind of effort in some 20 states that occurred in 2011. i find it interesting that this may be same several with some 20 states in 2011. this may be the only time we have captured him telling the truth. >> yeah, this is like watergate. let me go to the guy running against governor walker. you must be thanks santa clause now. you have got this guy caught red handed. all along, i don't know the guy,

i thought he was an honest budget cutter, and it turns out his goal was to screw the unions. he wants to divide anconquer, he is caught red handed. you got him. >> i was flabbergasted when i saw it. i said for weeks his philosophy was divide and conquer. he's saying he's in favor of dividing and conquering. and it shows what you said. it's never been about the budget, it's how do you take away workers's rights. you start with the public employees and then you divide and conquer. it doesn't stop with worker's rights. the woman he made that statement two, two weeks later she gave him $10,000. >> who was this woman he was making the commitment to bust

the unions to. >> she's a billionaire businesswoman in the state, and earlier this year, she believe what we believe is the largest contribution ever to a gubernatorial campaign, she gave him half a million dollars. >> i have no idea, i have never met the woman. it goes to his truthfulness. this goes directly to his truthfulness. he has been saying i'm not going to go after them, but it's right out of mitch daniel's play book in indiana. he said the same thing for years, i'm not going after the private unions. and the thursday before the super bowl game, he signed the bill in indiana. that's what i believe will happen here. we pushed him for weeks, and he never said he would veto a bill to make wisconsin a right to work state.

he can no longer be a rock star of the far right. >> it reminds me of the reagan error where he admitted the whole purpose of changing the tax laws was to get the top rate down for the rich. same deal here. your thoughts about this. why do people hate public employees and why do they want to break them. >> people do not hate public employees. the people depend on them. but this goes back to alec chris, a well planned orchestrated event. they developed the proposals that translated into wisconsin, ohio, and florida. it's been an absolute fraud. he wanted to set environment sector unions against the public

sector. >> i want to say something, after 9/11, you know what people said was the highest prestigious job in the country was firefighter. i have to say something in tribute to my colleague here, mr. mayor, i have a colleague here who is probably lev stating tonight, ed schultz, he must have been several feet off the ground. this is what he has been saying on this network for months now. saying this guy is a union buster. thank you as always. >> thank you, it's on our website too. >> and good luck in your race, i can say that, i can't endorse, but good luck. >> thank you. >> coming up, what mitt romney may need to prove about himself and gay people. you're watching "hardball."omy. we also have zero free time, and my dad moving in. so we went to fidelity. we looked at our family's goals and some ways to help us get there. they helped me fix my economy,

the one in my house. now they're managing my investments for me. and with fidelity, getting back on track was easier than i thought. call or come in today to take control of your personal economy. get one-on-one help from america's retirement leader. the teacher that comes to mind for me is my high school math teacher, dr. gilmore. i mean he could teach. he was there for us, even if we needed him in college. you could call him, you had his phone number. he was just focused on making sure we were gonna be successful. he would never give up on any of us.

free-credit-score-dot-com'sur boargonna direct you ♪ts ♪ ♪ to check your credit score before it gets too late ♪ ♪ and you end up strapped for cash ♪ ♪ patching your board with duct tape ♪ ♪ so hit free-credit-score-dot-com ♪

♪ find out what credit's about ♪ ♪ or else you could be headed for a credit wipeout ♪ offer applies with enrollment in freecreditscore.com™.

let me finish tonight with high school, remember it? remember how you were treated by your classmates. were you cool? were you popular, part of the in crowd? or did you feel awkward a lot of the time, not part of the social scene. finally do you remember the people you had lunch with, the table you were welcome at? do you remember the bullies? the kids good at sports. romney says he can't remember if he let a pack of classmates, go

after a kid with longish hair, got on top of him, and got on top of him and mitt romney did the honors, cut his hair. he said he can't remember the class followers following him to teach this kids a lesson. if mitt romney never did this, he should say so and proudly. if mitt romney did do this, it would be helpful to know how he looks back on this, with a giggle b embarrassment, or did he feel honestly bad about how he treated another kid his age. worried about what his classmates decided to do to him without any sympathy. he will probably stick to the "i don't remember" it might be good

for the voter to remember. thinking hard about the fact that the man who was once this kid who let him get chased away from his campaign and didn't lift a finger or his voice to say you're my guy and i want you to stay in my campaign. mitt can still do that, it could be his way of saying ladies and gentlemen, my name is mitt romney, the same guy that did this bad thing in high school. i ask you to vote for me because i have changed. that's "hardball" for now, thanks for being with us, don't forget sunday is mother's day. "politicsnation" starts right now. welcome to "politicsnation," i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead, a question of character. we begin with a sifrle question, who is mitt romney? he is askings of people to vote for him, and learning the answer to that is essential for voters. it